President Martin’s Comments:

This year continues to amaze me with how quickly time seems to pass. It seems like only yesterday that I was writing October’s VFTB.

Firstly, a review of October..

I must start on the 30^th September with a talk by Rtn Graham Martin’s son in law, Owen Mace. Owen delivered a talk on recycling, linked to its impact on the economy. This was very much about how industry was adapting to the need for recycling; he covered many aspects that were new to me, such as traceability standards being introduced. I was heartened by the fact that more is happening than I thought, with more on its way.

The 7^th October saw a talk from Andrew Willig, who is employed by one of Loughborough’s cutting-edge technology companies (Intelligent Energy), based on the university campus. The subject was “The Future of Hydrogen Fuel Cells.” Despite some IT glitches (which hopefully have now been traced to a rogue cable - more of that later). Andrew gave a comprehensive run down of what his company is doing and the wider Hydrogen industry. One of my takes from the talk is that by using off peak electric generation to create Hydrogen, these fuel cells could help us at peak energy demand times. He was able to explain a future for these cells meaning less use of traditional fuels such as oil.

The 14^th October saw a talk by one of our own: Rtn Diane Williams on the C4K (Coats for Children) project; some of the statistics presented were genuinely thought provoking. Michael reports that last year “Rotary clubs in Charnwood collectively supplied 198 coats across 14 schools. Our plan this winter is to try to double that.” Diane demonstrated what and how the C4K team have been approaching this year’s needs for coats in the Loughborough / Coalville area. I am also pleased to announce that the team have just received grants totalling £3.5k. (As an aside, a big thank you to Diane’s partner Richard, who helped one Presidential IT Luddite out with fixing an IT issue!)

21^st October saw some of us attending both the lunchtime meeting and the evening session. The lunchtime talk was about LOROS and delivered by Debbie Thrussell. She outlined some of the changes that have taken place this year within LOROS, following the funding shortfall announced in early summer. They have been hit by the general cost of living, National Insurance, and Minimum Wage increases. They have also seen a reduction in legacies of £2m. Cost cutting has resulted in bed capacity being reduced from thirty-one beds down to 18 (closure of a wing / ward). Nevertheless, they have been able to maintain their work in the community.

LIG presented LOROS with a £500 donation at the end of the talk. I am pleased to announce that LOROS will be the main charity at our winter concert and 2026 Golf Day (NB Rainbows will also be supported by the Par Three Challenge).

In the evening, the second talk of the day saw the return of Jack Shaw who, in his spare time, is the Station Master at Quorn / Woodhouse Great Central Railway. It was an entertaining talk, covering many aspects, especially how they are trying to broaden the visitor experience to the GCR.

He explained that he was a Railway person and NOT a train person. He was able to update us on the often-asked question of re-unification with the line North of Loughborough heading to Ruddington.

Unfortunately, we did have another smaller IT glitch. Many thanks to Rtn Roger Williams who has tried finding the underlying cause of the Projector / laptop interface issue. I know he has spent many hours on trying to correct an intermittent fault. As stated earlier we think a rogue cable has been the cause. This has been replaced. Roger has also been busy improving the front end of the Wiki page as well as going live with our internet “new” web page. Again, many thanks to Roger for his dedicated work in the shadows.

Not only was Friday 24^th October End Polio Day but also C4K Quiz Night. Longcliffe was filled with over 70 quizzers. I  am pleased to report that other Rotary clubs attended the event. Thank you to all those involved in the creation and running of the event. A good night was had by all.

Quizmasters Steve Delaney & Sandra Roberts

Michael reports that “net proceeds from the event were approx.£750, which will pay for new, warm coats for 30 deprived primary school children in Charnwood.” 

During the evening, sales of purple crocus corms were also made.

LIG have turned 4000 corms into a sizeable donation to Rotary’s end polio Charity.

Well done to Diane Willams and Ros Severn as well as anyone else involved.

Batch 62 of the Home Starter Boxes was made on 23^rd October.

Our final meeting this month on 28^th October heard an entertaining talk by former Rtn and Charnwood Honorary Freeman Lez Cope-Newman covering his role as head of the Love Loughborough organisation which has been awarded significant funding from central government.

At the end of the talk, Lez was handed a Paul Harris Fellowship Award for his support of Rotary and charitable works in the area, Breast Cancer being amongst one of them as well as the delivery of enhancement projects within Loughborough.

It was also pleasing to see many “Friends of Rotary” turn out for the talk. Thank you, Lez.

At the end of the meeting members agreed, subject to DEC declaring an emergency over Hurricane Melissa’s impact, that the club would make a donation.

Turning now to what’s to come..

Now November is upon us, and December is not that far away, our thoughts turn to some other activities. The programme team have just about created a full Nov / Dec programme: thank you again to them. There’s a mixture of interesting talks and key Club Business meetings. These will be detailed in the Programme section of the VFTB. However, I’d like to single out a few here please.

Thank you to those who have signed up for marshalling the Seagrave / Wolds challenge on Saturday 8^th November.

On 11^th November, Baroness Morgan of Cotes will be visiting the club. We would like to send her away with positive thoughts about Rotary in Loughborough. If HSB and C4K teams are available to take her through what you are doing that would be great; we also need to get across our international work and End Polio will be a good one to facilitate this. DG Moira Penney and AG Janet Sinclair will also support the event.

Saturday 29^th November sees our traditional winter concert at Hodson Hall. Please do support this event, either as a volunteer on the night or by the purchase of tickets, or ideally both.

Andy Perkins has circulated December tin rattle dates:

• Co-op East Leake Saturday 13th December
• Tesco Shelthorpe Saturday 20th December
• Morrisons Gorse Covert 21st December

There will be a volunteer page on the Wiki shortly. Please keep those dates free.

Whilst the 9^th December seems a little way off, this is the Club’s SGM event. Firstly, we need to be quorate, i.e. 25% of ALL members need to attend in person. We are also looking for future presidents 27/28 and 28/29 as well as trustees. Again, please keep the date to hand and do not feel shy about volunteering for these roles. The agenda will be circulated shortly. One agenda item will be how and to whom some funds should be allocated: due to prudent budgeting and overachieving at fund raising, we have some funds that the club will need to decide how to allocate (NOT previously covered at assembly).

Please note the Rotary Christmas Dinner  booking page is live on the Wiki.

 

Loughborough Impact Group Newsletter no. 5 – November 2025 Hello and welcome to the latest newsletter of the Impact Group. Autumn is now firmly upon us but October proved to be a busy month for Rotarians in Loughborough.

Read on to find out the latest news and dt forget your diary as there are several upcoming events as we head towards the end of the year.

Firstly, the Impact Group met twice during October at Longcliffe. The meeting on the 7th gave us the opportunity to reflect on the Group and how we would like meetings to run in the future. It was agreed that we should continue to meet every two weeks but it was also suggested that when there are 5 Tuesdays in the month we should have a social meeting as well. Please keep checking ‘Dates for your Diary’, the What’s App group and the signing in sheet for events, information and any changes. On 21st October, Debbie Thrusell from LOROS joined us at Longcliffe. LOROS is facing financial difficulties due to a number of factors including the rise in the cost of living and increases in the Minimum Wage and National Insurance contributions. Interestingly, there has been a reduction in the money pledged to LOROS through legacies by around £2 million. LOROS have strategically closed a ward in order to reduce operating costs but this has resulted in the number of beds being reduced from thirty-one to eighteen. Despite these challenging times Debbie spoke with optimism and Loughborough Impact Group presented her with a donation of £500. The Raising the Roof concert to be held by RCLB and 2026 Golf Day will be in aid of LOROS. . Friday 24th October marked End Polio Day. Ros and Diane spent a busy Saturday afternoon and put ‘Operation Crocus’ (as they called it!) into action. The 4000 purple ‘Ruby Giant’ corms were counted, packaged and labelled ready for sale throughout October to raise funds and awareness for Rotary’s End Polio Charity. There are a handful of bags left should anyone wish to still make a purchase. Contact Ros or Diane. The Coats 4 Kids Quiz Night also took place on the 24th October with 70 people attending to try their luck at questions about 1984, trees, food and drink, lucky dip, world landmarks and finding the missing words in the ‘acrostic’ round. Thank you to all who were involved in making the evening a success, especially to Steve Delaney and Sandra Roberts who were the quiz masters. Approximately £750 was raised which will fund 30 brand new winter coats for primary school aged children in Charnwood. Unfortunately, there was an error when transferring the scores of two similarly named teams to the master copy. Hence, ‘Six of the Best’ were not actually the BEST, and ‘Lucky Six’ were UNLUCKY not to be publicly acknowledged as the winners on the night. Apologies for this. Congratulations go to Peter, Bob & Diane, Sue Howard and David T. Diane has been spreading the word about Coats 4 Kids and was delighted to be invited to Loughborough Inner Wheel to give a talk and then also RC of Loughborough Beacon where she also shared some thought-provoking data in regard to child poverty. If you weren’t able to make it to the Quiz, here are a few world landmarks from the picture round. Answers next time! The demand for Home Starter Boxes continues and the team gathered on Thursday 23rd October to pack another 10 boxes. Ros and Diane also attended the monthly RC of Loughborough Beacon Council meeting.

Dates for your diary…

4th November: Joint event: RCLB/LIG and JIG. Skittles at The Wheatsheaf in Thurcaston from 5pm to 9pm. Food to be served at 6pm. See Beacon Wiki for details and food choice.

11th November: Baroness Morgan of Cotes will speak to RC of Loughborough Beacon at Longcliffe Golf Club in the evening.

15th November: Living Without Abuse ‘Strictly’ event at the Cedars Academy, Birstall. Tickets £12 per person.

18th November: Friends of Rainbows Festive Wreath Making Workshop. See rainbows website for more information (Fundraise/Events tab). £25 for materials, tuition, hot drink and cake.

25th November: Loughborough Impact Group Ten-pin bowling at the Meridian.

26th November: LIG Session of Charnwood Talking News.

29th November: Raising the Roof Charity Concert at Hodson Hall, Loughborough Grammar School at 7pm. Organised by RC of Loughborough Beacon. LOROS to be main beneficiary.

29th November: A Christmas Variety Show by Suzanne & the Entertainers @ the Polish Social Club in aid of Prostaid. Details from David Hollins.

2nd December: Lunchtime meeting at Longcliffe.

7th December: The Loughborough Santa Run organised by Rainbows. All LIG members are encouraged to help this event. Contact Claire Hoggan events@rainbows.co.uk

9th December: SGM for RC of Loughborough Beacon in the evening at Longcliffe Golf Club. Members are encouraged to attend.

14th December: PP Carl has invited members and partners of the Impact Group to Christmas Cheer at his home. From 2-4pm. Mulled wine and mince pies.

16th December: Impact Group Christmas Lunch at Longcliffe Golf Club. Friends and partners are welcome.